A Louisiana man will be physically castrated and spend up to 50 years in prison for raping a teenage girl multiple times.
Glenn Sullivan Sr. received the sentence on April 17 after pleading guilty to four counts of second-degree rape, District Attorney Scott Perrilloux said in a Facebook post. The post also noted that Sullivan's plea requires physical castration — and Brad Cascio, the assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case, told WBRZ this might be a first.
Under a 2008 state law, Louisiana allows for the court to sentence a sex offender to medroxyprogesterone acetate treatment, which is more colloquially known as a chemical castration. But a defendant can also file a written motion giving his voluntary consent to be physically castrated as an alternative to the treatment.
It's unclear why Sullivan decided to go with surgical removal, but Cascio told WBRZ the choice is a rarity.
"I want to say I've had three people ordered to be chemically castrated but, to my knowledge, this is the first physical castration to be ordered," Cascio told the publication.
Sullivan's case began in July 2022, when a woman told Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office the man had raped her multiple times when she was 14 and impregnated her. The investigation thereafter proved her claims through DNA and revealed Sullivan had groomed her then used "threats of violence" against her and her family to keep her quiet.
"So many of these types of cases go unreported because of fear," Perrilloux said. "The strength it must have taken for this young woman to tell the truth in the face of threats and adversity is truly incredible."
Cascio said he pushed for castration to be part of the 54-year-old's sentence.
"Sex crimes against juveniles are the most malicious crimes we prosecute. I intend on using every tool the legislature is willing to give us, including physical castration, to seek justice for the children in our community," Cascio said.
The Department of Corrections now decides when they will carry out the castration, though the law requires it be conducted no later than a week before the criminal's release. But that means if the department waits, Sullivan's castration could occur at the end of his sentence, when he's 104 years old.
This week-before-release trait of Louisiana's castration law is similar in other states. That includes California — which was the first to allow chemical castration — and Florida and Montana. In Louisiana, it's six weeks before release, and in other states that allow castration as part of a sentence — like Georgia, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin — it's unclear.
The rule would stay at a week if Louisiana Democratic Sen. Regina Barrow's bill passes. However, her proposal would mean any person convicted of certain crimes when the victim is under 13 would be surgically castrated without their consent. This includes for crimes like child pornography, online solicitation of a minor and more.
